Door-latch.



CA SCHUTZ.

' DOOR LATCH.

APPLICATION man 1uNE21. 1911.

le Patented Feb.19,1918.

'inneren erstens retratar ernten.

CONRAD SCHTZ, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO HERMAN DANIELSORG, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

DOOR-LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patenten ren. is, wie.

Application led J une 21, 1917. Serial No. 175,994.

To all whom z may concern.'

Be it known that I, CONRAD SCHTZ, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement inDoor-Latches, of which the following is a full, clear, and eX- actdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of this specification.

T he object of my invention is to provide a spring latch for doors,particularly doors of refrigerators, which will operate, when the dooris pushed into closed position, to hold the door tightly closed untilthe latch is manually released. My improved latch embodies features longknown in the art, namely: a spring actuated shaft operable by a handlever, a latch arm actuated by the shaft and a keeper having a cam facewhich, as the door is closed, engages a roller on the end of the latcharm and guides it into the mouth of a recess behind the keeper, the armand shaft, in this action, being turnedagainst the actuating spring, thelatter, when the roller reaches the top of the keeper, turning the shaftand arm and snapping the roller into the recess.

In my invention, however, the latch arm is not fixed to, or connecteddirectly with, the shaft, but is secured to a link the opposite ends ofwhich are attached to two levers one of which is pivoted on the doorframe and the other of vwhich is secured to the shaft, the two levers.being preferably of different length.

rl`he object of the improvement is to impart such a movement to theroller, as it snaps into the recess, that it will coperate with the rearface of the keeper to effect a stronger and more secure tightening ofthe door against the door frame.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the drawings,which show a. preferred embodiment, in which- Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of a latch embodying my invention applied to a door and door trame.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the door frame and keeper and an endview of the other mechanism.

The door frame a is recessed at b and has secured to it a plate 0carrying a keeper (l, which extends in front of the recess and has afront cam face sloping downward and outward, the lower part of the camface being on a level with the normal position of the roller on thelatch arm hereinafter described. The recess I), behind the keeper d, isshaped to receive and guide said roller and suflicient space is leftabove the top of the keeper to permit the entry of the roller.

Secured to the door e is a bracket f having bearings for a shaft g whichextends horizontally and parallel to the door. A coil spring Itsurrounds the shaft and at one end engages the bracket and at the otherend is secured to a collar on the shaft. An operating lever or arm z' issecured at the end 0f the shaft more remote from the edge of the door.On the end of the shaft opposite the edge of the door is secured one endof a short arm y.

The bracket f has also a bearing in which turns one end of a lever 7c.The pivot of the lever la is above, and preferably in vertical alinementwith, the axis of the shaft g. In the specific embodiment shown, thelever 7c extends toward the doorframe in a direction inclined slightlyupward from the horizontal, while the arm j, which is considerablylonger than the lever 7c, extends also toward the door frame butdownward at a relatively steep angle. The lengths and angles ofinclinations toward the horizontal 0f the arm y' and lever Z2 are soproportioned that, preferably, their outer ends are in verticalalinement. Attached to the outer ends of these two members is a link m,which is of T-shape, the leg n of which constitutes the latch arm andhas a laterally extending bearing carrying a roller o.

When the door is pushed to closing position, the roller o engages theinclined front face of the keeper d, which swings the roller and latcharm n upward, causing the link m to swing the arms j and 7c, turning theshaft g and putting into tension the spring it. When the roller ooverrides the top of the keeper (l, the spring g restores the operativeparts to normal position, thereby forcing the roller o to the bottom ofthe recess Zn and into position to securely hold the door in closedposition.

The door may be opened from the inside by means of any known expedient.I have shown a bolt 79 movable outwardly through the door against theoperatinglever t', which, it will be understood, is turned when it isdesired to swing the shaft and latch arm into .Copies o1 this patent maybe obtained for position to lift the roller o out of fastening relationwith the keeper cl.

Having now fully described my'invention, vvhat I desire to claim andprotect by Letters Patent is Y 1. In a door latch, the combination witha recessed door-,frame and a keeper, attached to the door frame, 'havinga front inclined face, of a door, a shaft turnable on its axis inbearings on the door, manually operable means to turn vthe shaft, alever pivotally movable on the door, an arm secured to the shaft, a linkconnecting said arm and lever,

Aand a latch arm carried by the link the free 4end of which is adaptedto engage said face ofthe keeper and be actuated thereby to op-V eratethe link, lever, arm and shaft to turn the latter until the end Vof thelatch arm overrides the keeper.

2. In a door latch, the combination with a recessed door frame and akeeper, attached to the door frame, having a front inclined face, of adoor, a shaft turnable on its axis in bearings on the door, manuallyoperable means to turn the shaft, an arm secured to the shaft, a leverturnable on the door on an axis directly above the axis of the shaft,said arm .being longer than the lever and extending inward toWard thedoor frame at a substantially greater angle to the horizontal,`

a v`T-link the vertically extending arm of which is pivoted to saidV armand lever, and a roller carried on the end of the leg of the T link.

3. In a door latch, the combination With a Y recessed door frame and akeeper, attached to the door frame, having a front inclined face, of adoor, a shaft turnable on its axis in bearings on the door, manuallyoperable means to turn the shaft, a lever pivotally movable on the door,an arm secured to the shaft, the axes of the lever and shaft beinglocated one above the other, said lever andarm being of differentlengths and extending inward toward the door frame at substantiallydifferent angles'to thehorizontal,

a link connectingsaid arm and lever, and a latch arm carried by the linkthe free end of which is adapted to engage said 'face of the CONRADscHrz.

five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner o! Patenti. Washington.D. C.

